Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Book Review: 'Lovely Trigger' by R.K. Lilley

Lovely Trigger

Tristan & Danika #3

SYNOPSIS:

THE IMPACT

Tristan hit rock bottom, and no one felt the impact harder than Danika. She was forced to see, in the most brutal of ways, that love does not conquer all. Bruised, bloody, and broken she had to walk away.

THE AFTERMATH

Picking up the pieces of your life after a tragedy is a daunting prospect, and that’s considering you still own all of the pieces. But what if you don’t? What if someone else owns those pieces, and those pieces are a part of your soul?

You dig deep and work with what you’ve got.

That’s what Danika told herself and believed, every single day, for years.

Tristan and Danika’s love had failed every test that life had thrown at them. She couldn’t forget that, not for one second. And if those tests had been overly harsh, well, she wasn’t one to wallow in self-pity. The failure was the thing she had to focus on. The failure was the lesson. She had no intention of working so hard to make it out of hell without learning that lesson well.

THE REUNION

Over six years after the night that changed everything, Danika finds herself forced to spend the weekend constantly in Tristan’s company, as they attend the wedding of two of their dearest friends. It’s been long enough that she feels they can be friendly again without it destroying her peace of mind, but just a small amount of time in his presence has her remembering something she had forced herself to forget: There’d been a reason she’d gone through hell with this man, for this man, some true good to precede the bad.

She shocks herself by quickly giving in to a hunger that she never imagined could still consume her.

Even the best intentioned denial has a breaking point.

THE HARSH REALITY

After everything that’s happened, the rise and the fall, the pain and the aftermath, can these two navigate the waters of acute regret, survive the trials of coming face to face with all that they have lost, and find the strength to try again?

“I didn’t ever want to forget what we had, or to forget what I’d done
to deserve losing it.”

Passionate. Angst-driven. Emotional. HOT. Tristan and Danika’s story
was once again fully captivating. Lovely
Trigger was the third and final book in this series and as much as I was
dying to read it, now I’m sad it’s over. However, it was such a wonderful
feeling seeing Tristan and Danika’s story come full circle. They definitely deserved
their happy ending. They earned it.

“Love doesn’t let you walk away clean. Love is messy. I don’t have to
tell you, of all people; love takes a fucking piece of you before it’s done.”

This book picked up right where book two, Rock Bottom, ended…in a very bad place. We got taken through the very
rough journey of Danika and Tristan’s time apart. We saw them slowly rebuild
their lives…year after year. Despite how hard Danika fought it, it was clear as
day how she loved Tristan with her entire heart and soul. And Tristan? Hell. He
LIVED for Danika. He didn’t fight it at all. He did, however, give her the much
needed time and space to recuperate from their disastrous and life-changing
(quite literally) breakup. It was heartbreaking to say the least.

“It was the most bitter pill to swallow; how my rock bottom had
impacted her.”

The way Tristan slowly earned back Danika’s trust was breathtaking and
most definitely swoon-worthy. Gah! I LOVE that man!!! He worked hard for the
love of his life. HARD. He proved to Danika that he had, in fact, changed. He
had left all his demons in his past. He was a new…a BETTER…man. A man that
loved her with his entire being. He still felt the pain and remorse of his
actions, but he used that as a drive to continue to be the man he was now. If
I’m being completely honest, in my eyes, he was perfect. Yes, he screwed up royally,
but he fixed it. He worked through it. He paid
for it. It wasn’t just Danika who lost everything…he did too.

“Loving her has become a part of who I am.”

I closed my eyes, my face crumbling.

“Oh sweetheart,” he said softer now, closer now.

“I feel so lost.”

He took my hands in his. “Not anymore. I’m right here. I’ve got you.”

When Danika agreed to be ‘just friends’ with Tristan, I squealed. I
KNEW that would not last long. They
had a bond, a chemistry that made it inevitable that they end up together. It
was only a matter of time. And sure enough, it ended up happening. Danika ended
up giving in to the love of her life. Cue the fireworks, people!!!!! I was over
the moon! They were just so perfect together! So HOT and passionate!! Wooh!
*Fans self*

After everything fell into place for Danika and Tristan, it was a
wonderful ride to be on. I stopped holding my breath, waiting for the next blow
to happen. It was bliss. I wanted them to get their happy ending
SO.FREAKING.BAD. And when they did? GOSH! I was probably the happiest reader
out there!!! I’ve LOVED Tristan since I first met him in the Up in the Air
Trilogy and now I love him even more. If that’s at all possible. Lovely Trigger was a beautiful
conclusion to an already phenomenal spin-off series. I HIGHLY recommend this
book!! Go one-click!!

Danika hasn’t had an easy life. Being insanely attracted to bad boys has never helped make it easier.

One look at Tristan, and every brain cell she possessed went up in smoke. This man was trouble with a capital T. It was a given.

She knew better. Bad boys were bad. Especially for her. Considering her history, it was crazy to think otherwise. So why did crazy have to feel so damn fine?

For as long as she could remember, Danika had been focused on the future with single-minded purpose. Tristan came along and taught her everything there was to know about letting go, and living in the present. She fell, hard and deep. Of course, that only made her impact with the ground that much more devastating.

Bad Things is about Tristan and Danika, and their train wreck of a love story. This series can be read as a standalone, or with the Up in the Air series.

Their love had the power of a runaway freight train, and the potential to be just as destructive.

The tempestuous sequel to Bad Things picks up where the first book left off. Reeling from a profound loss, Tristan and Danika struggle to pick up the pieces and build a life together, but the hard habits of a lifetime are not so easy to escape.

Rock Bottom takes us on a dual point of view journey through addiction and desire, through love and agony, and answers the question we’ve been asking since these characters were introduced in Grounded: “What happened between Tristan and Danika?”

DANIKA

Even love couldn’t cushion a fall like ours. My love for Tristan was so big that I felt consumed by it, and even so, it was not enough to overpower our combined demons.

I struggled. I yelled and screamed. I scratched and kicked.

I fought like hell, but even the most determined fighters have to stop before they break.

R.K. Lilley lives in Texas with her husband and their two beautiful sons. She's had a lot of interesting jobs, from being a first class flight attendant, to being a stable hand, but swears she never knew what hard work was until she had children. She's been addicted to both reading and writing fiction since she can remember. She loves to travel, read, hike, paint, game, watch anime, and make the most of every single day. She is the author of the erotic romance novels Bad Things, Rock Bottom, Lovely Trigger, In Flight, Mile High, Grounded, and the novella, Lana. She is currently working on Mr. Beautiful, Book #4 of the Up In The Air series, The Wild Side, a stand alone contemporary romance, andCrossing Fire, Book #2 of Heretic Daughter series.